On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 07:40:55 -0000, Twisted <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >On Jun 25, 2:32 pm, Giorgos Keramidas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >wrote: >>> So much for the "free" in "free software". If you can't actually use >>> it without paying money, whether for the software or for some book, >>> it isn't really free, is it? >> >> Please do not confuse the term 'free' in 'free software' with 'gratis'. >> >> 'Gratis', i.e. 'lacking a monetary price tag' is something *very* >> different from the meaning of 'free' in 'free software'. > > Having to pay for the documentation, presumably because it's > copyrighted, doesn't strike me as much more "free as in speech" than > it is "free as in beer".
You don't have to "pay for the documentation because it is copyrighted". You can _download_ the Emacs manual in any format you are more comfortable with. See for example: http://www.gnu.org/manual/manual.html This page lists downloadable documentation in nicely formatted HTML or PDF formats, which is available without any sort of monetary charge. > Also being dependent on a particular publisher for access to required > documentation violates "free as in no vendor lock-in", to boot. So > anyone saying some "free" software is unusable without such-and-such > an O'Reilly book can go peddle the software and the book somewhere > where spammers are welcome. Being locked in to O'Reilly being just as > bad as being locked in to Microsoft or Adobe. Since you are not obliged to _pay_ for the O'Reilly version, this entire paragraph is both meaningless and moot. Feel free to grab an online copy of the manual, or install the documentation of Emacs using your favorite distribution's packaging tools. There is absolutely no "lock-in" anywhere near Emacs. - Giorgos -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
